www.irishtimes.com

Jim Carroll

Music, Life and everything else

Gong! Gong! Gong! It’s the OTR Gongs of 2011 Show!

Gongarama! Despite the efforts of The Ticket Awards to steal our thunder, it’s OTR’s Gongs of 2011, our heartfelt tribute to those who gave rock’n’roll a good, bad and ugly name during the last year. We’re now actively seeking a …

Jim Carroll

jimcarroll

Fri, Dec 23, 2011, 09:30

Gongarama! Despite the efforts of The Ticket Awards to steal our thunder, it’s OTR’s Gongs of 2011, our heartfelt tribute to those who gave rock’n’roll a good, bad and ugly name during the last year. We’re now actively seeking a sponsor for a gala awards show with our showbiz pals. Meteor, give us a call.

Before we start the show and things gets rowdy, some words from the top table. A round of applause, a standing ovation and cheers for every single one of you from me. It’s all about you, you, you and you. OTR continues to work and be such a popular draw because you lot read it, comment on it and tip me off about stuff for it. If proof of this was needed, yesterday’s post demonstrates that the OTR readership and hive mind can uncover things before anyone else. Thanks for your custom in the past year and for continuing to make OTR your favourite waste of time especially when we veer ever so slightly from the music and music business beats into other areas. Happy Christmas to all and I hope 2012 will be a smashing year for you and yours. Normal service resumes on Tuesday January 3 with a post on our Irish Sound of 2012 selections.

Now, on with the show. The winners of OTR’s Gongs of 2011 are….The Services to the Radio Industry Gong: Neil Diamond for those Aviva Stadium show ads.

The Going Going Gone Gong: R.E.M., despite a late determined run from Oxegen and some street team voting for Westlife..

The 80,000 People Can’t Be Wrong Gong: Oxegen. Let’s hope Dinny books Amanda Brunker for one of the Phoenix Park gigs and gives us all another giggle.

The Record Label Romance Gong: EMI who spurned Terra Firma and Citigroup to fall for Universal Music.

The Johnny Drama gong: Morrissey, for banning meat from gigs, getting bit by a dog, whinging about his record label and barring fans from shows.

The Generosity Gong: MCD, who gave away oodles of free tickets for Joanna Newsom’s show in Dublin’s Marlay Park.

The 86 Gong: Michael Flatley’s show at the Cliffs of Moher cancelled due to “Ireland’s tough economic climate”

The $760 Million Gong: U2 whose tour with the crab made a lot of wonga.

The Road Records Memorial Gong: RAGE, Elastic Witch and E2 Music who bucked the prevailing trend with record stores in the capital

The Not Really A Bad Bollox Gong: Spotify, which became the whipping boy of choice for those sections of the music industry trying to put the genie back into the bottle.

The Hero to Zero Gong: Odd Future kingpin Tyler, the Creator whose tunes and live shows counted for nothing after some childish interviews.

The Good PR Gong: the person from the PR company for the Forbidden Fruit festival who told a reviewer that they couldn’t spare a press ticket because “all the Assets models want to come down and we have to look after them”

Forgot Password?

Thank you

You should receive instructions for resetting your password. When you have reset your password, you can Sign In.

Hello, .

Please choose a screen name. This name will appear beside any comments you post. Your screen name should follow the standards set out in our community standards.

Screen Name

Thank you for registering. Please check your email for the activation code.

We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Standards. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment or by filling out this form. New comments are only accepted for 10 days from the date of publication.